Japanese Movies To Get Rare Area Screening

June 13, 1986|By Candice Russell, Film Writer

Gene Santiago, head of Miami`s Film Society (connected with the Miami Film Festival), is offering South Floridians the unprecedented opportunity this summer to see rare Japanese movies. Chances are you`ll never see these selections from directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Masahiro Shinoda and Hiroshi Inagaki on public television or anywhere else, except perhaps a film series at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

While not exactly convenient to filmgoers in Broward and Palm Beach counties, the screenings at the Arcadia at 4120 Laguna St. in Coral Gables are worth the drive. Each movie is scheduled to be shown at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Ugetsu (1953), Kenji Mizoguchi`s story of a potter and a farmer in search of fortune, is this weekend`s film. On June 21 and 22, the first part of Samurai (1954), directed by Inagaki, will be shown, with the next two parts on June 28 and 29, and July 5 and 6.

Shinoda`s Double Suicide (1969), due July 12 and 13, sounds particularly interesting. It`s presented as a Banraku puppet play with actors taking the part of puppets and puppet masters as the ultimate architects of their movements. Demon Pond (1979), also by Shinoda, is the story of a humble villager and her contact with a demon pond. It screens July 19 and 20. Last in the festival is Kagemusha (1980), an epic film from Japanese master Kurosawa that some have called a dress rehearsal for Ran, widely named as the best film in any language last year. You can catch it on July 26 or 27.

CHILDISH MATTERS

Ever notice how one squalling infant or whining toddler in a theater can ruin a movie for everybody? Twice in the same week a baby and a 3-year-old disturbed my moviegoing at different theaters. In both cases a parent retreated to the lobby with the noisy child numerous times, presumably out of deference to other people, but returned in the vain hope that the childish noises were all over. I felt as if I were seeing these R-rated films in the middle of a nursery school.

Rather than aggravate moviegoers who have paid top dollar to see a movie in silence, theater managers should get tough and forbid kids under 5 from all movies. The one exception would be G-rated films. Heck, the tapings of network TV shows used to forbid children under the age of 16 from being in the audience. Theater managers should take much more care in preserving the sanctity of the moviegoing experience.

TICKET PRICES

In buying a car, a major appliance or a house, it pays to shop around -- a dictum that holds true for the thrifty moviegoer as well. General Cinema Corp., including the four-screen Broward Mall Cinema, the four-screen Galleria, and the eight-screen Coral Square Cinema, have a narrow gap between the cost of moviegoing by day and by night. When the sun is high, you can expect to pay $3, while at night the price rises to $4.50. There is one exception. Cobra costs $5 per ticket at the Galleria. Could it be because Sylvester Stallone thinks he doesn`t have enough money?

Stallone AMC Theatres, intensifying the competition, is advertising ``price buster`` adult tickets of $1.95 for the daily twilight shows at their six- screen Lakes 6 complex in west Broward and $3.75 at night. The spanking new Fox Pompano theaters in the Pompano Outlet Mall charge $2.50 for matinees till 4:30 p.m.

But you can`t beat the Mercede 4 in Sunrise for its all-day Sunday price of $1 for first-run films. That`s one of the most popular days of the week to attend the movies, which proves some theater owners are nice guys. You don`t have to be a senior citizen, a student or a child either -- moviegoers who traditionally get a break on ticket prices all over town.

KUDOS DUE

Movies at Plantation, part of the UA Theatres, is to be congratulated for not only hiring enough ushers to keep the crowds under control and where they should be in the seven-screen complex, but for having ushers in the theaters when films are on-screen. This is a rarity. On Friday night at one of their theaters, I saw an usher oust three boys under age 12 who had sneaked in for the R-rated Last Resort, which contained nudity, coarse language and the use of recreational drugs.

Parents can only do so much when they drop off their kids at a multiscreen theater to see a PG-rated comedy. Sound theater management and ushers who patrol the aisles during the movie have to take the next step in enforcing the ratings of the Motion Picture Association of America.